Show HEARING ARGUMENTS SENATE TO MASTERLY by caciuc judge wilson mcdonald Wc Donald and F S richards washington february 18 the senate committee on territories gave a hearing today to day upon the admission of utah as a state to franlkin Franl din S richards of salt lake city ho described the barrenness when the settlers first entered and the wonderful productiveness prosperity and wealth which have resulted from their diligence and enterprise this was fifth petition for admission and as the oldest of the territories it was hoped her appeal would be heeded she had reached a point beyond which progress under territorial government was impossible it had been objected that the cormons mormons were polygamists As a matter of fact not more than 2 per cent of them ever were polygamists now time was rapidly solving the problem members of the constitutional convention took oaths and adopted a constitution which made polygamy or bigamy a crime As the speaker read the passages of the constitution ution providing that the anti polygamous sections shall never be repealed or changed without the assent of congress and the president senator butler queried you bonc expect congress to act favorably on such a proposition do you I 1 for one say frankly and emphatically J will not vote for it I 1 do not believe congress or the president has anything to do with changing the con ution senator stewart assenting said he did not think congress had the right to make a treaty with a state or territory eichardt Eich ards said that whatever might be the opinion of the committee the provision at least demonstrated the good faith of the men who framed the constitution to do all in their if permitted to bring utah into harmony with the country the people of utah recognized what the country required and they wished to meet ehfe requirements they however proposed to accomplish it by more humane methods than those pro posed by the present laws he sketched cases of cormons mormons who had been tried and convicted by the courts and showed by what lie declared to be indisputable facts that parties were illegally convicted of the charges brought against them the prosecution and coarts unable to bring proofs of unlawful cohabitation in fact had invented constructive cohabitation and convicted and punished offenders for this members of the committee asked if the stories as eichardt Eich ards related them embodied the facts which were conceded by the prosecution bichard could not say what ho considered si but said ho stated what he having been present as counsel for the defense knew to be the truth it was proposed by senator platt and other shat the names of the prosecuting officers be taken with the view to inquire of them as to their version of the matter and with this understanding the witness proceeded As to the marriage i elation ho said much misapprehension existed by reason of the confusion of the term celestial with plural marriages he explained the difference at great length and read mormon revelations on the point A celestial marriage might or might not be a plural marriage under both however cohabitation with more than one wife was permitted celestial marriage was made for time and for eternity it was not true that plural celestial mar riago was enjoined upon tha mor mons the fact being that it only merely permitted there was no union of church and state the tithing features of the mormon revelations were originally for the government of the community in missouri they were however held by many mor mons to be binding now but there was now no legal requirement that tithes be paid contributions were entirely voluntary answering the charge that utah was governed by a hierarchy he said that there was no such thing in the sense named he road from the doctrine and covenants of the church a declaration avowing the complete the civil and religious authority and went on to show that the church government went no further than the withdrawal of fellowship for transgression the kingdom of god was only to rule or earth when christ should reign supreme ex followed It ichards discussing the legal features of the case and arguing that ohp power of congress to compel submission to any regulations with regard to marriage relations was not impaired by admission as a state ho cited the cue 0 louisiana where it was required that civil liberty should be secured as a condition of her admission ho argued that congress had tho right to protect our civilization tho provision against polygamy and bigamy had been incorporated in tho constitution and tho history of the enst showed that provisions so fixed were effective he claimed that congress had no right to keep the territory out of tho union of states after its people had fulfilled the conditions and complied with the requirements prescribed for its ad mission senator conceding tho propriety of incorporating any prohibition of polygamy and bigamy in the constitution yet claimed that under the present national constitution government had no right thereafter to control the matter he admitted that if a territory were to come in with the present provision in its constitution then congress and the president would have the right to interfere but he for one did not propose to admit a state with any such right of interference delegate came said tho people of utah on four separate occasions asked admissions one objection was polygamy it was not a question of religious belief but the constitution permitted no breach of the laws which are deemed necessary for the protection of society while a state could not prescribe religious beliefs it could forbid practices which though sanctioned by revelation were held to be detrimental to good morals there was no pretense that religious beliefs of the people were to bo inquired into caine defended his co religionists of utah against the charges brought by various writers ho declared that they were upright worthy people that though revelation permitted plural marriage and though all members of the church might have married repeatedly the large majority of the people of utah had sought to put themselves conformity with the requirements of the country the constitution adopted by the convention was not the work of a conspiracy there was but ono boint it it about which thare could bo any question and that was whether the section embodies the honest views of the men who voted to ratify it the section makes polygamy and bigamy a misdemeanor punishable by tine and imprisonment H declared upon honor that the people of utah did deliberately and unreservedly adopt that section in good faith as the law of the land and intended to enforce it in the new state in reply to questions he said the last plural marriage of which he had knowledge was that of rudger clawson several years ago this man had been tried and had suffered imprisonment for his of fence the present legislature of utah now in session has before it a bill for marriage laws prohibiting polygamy and bigamous marriages this has been reported favorably from the committee on judiciary those who oppose statehood for utah he continued care nothing for the religion or morals of the mor mons it is their politics which they oppose if you would satisfy them you must disfranchise every mormont on account of religious belief judge jeremiah wilson also addressed the committee he eulogized the people of utah as among the thriftiest thrift iest most honest and temperate of the worl dand challenged compari sion with any community as to the progress they have made in all that goes to constitute an and civilized people ake whole opposition as to the admission of utah he said might be summed up in two propositions religions roli gions belief and attempt to govern the ma bority by the minority the mor mons were the of abuse because they held voting power which could not be legitimately overcome at the polls ho said they had broken no promise or betrayed a trust and therefore their sincerity in this matter ought not to bo questioned he contended in a legal argument that if thu state broke ane compact made with all the other states represented by congress the latter had inherent power and all that was necessary to enforce the provisions of the contract if baked whether in his opinion the people of utah could be trusted to make this compact and exercise the powers of statehood he would answer most solemnly and emphatically yes delegate dubois of idaho addressed the committee in opposition to the petition for admission he admitted the population of utah to be and sufficient so far as numbers go to entitle tho territory to statehood but declared that this population was mainly imported directly from europe by the mormon church even with an insufficient police force as said the number of arrests was enormously disproportionate to the population and the vast majority of prisoners arrested were convicted utah had been blessed with a superior climate and soil she lay on the direct line between the east an d california yet with such advantages her taxable wealth only aggregated of which was railroad property not owned in utah and of which belonged to the gentile inhabitants of that territory her taxable wealth averaged only per capita while the neighboring territories ranged from to ho asked to be informed by any advocate of admission why the practice of brigham young and john taylor was now admitted to bo wrong and argued that the cause of the mor mons in future could be best judged by their past they had been driven out of missouri by reason of their polygamous practices and bad established themselves in illinois where they founded the city of nauvoo and undertook to do something they are now frying to accomplish they se cured a city ahem also independent of state control and then enacted regulations of such a character that the outraged people of the state rose in their might and drove them away crime was rife in utah and criminals had the sympathy of the entire mormon people if any reform wa provided any from tha practices pronounced by liw to be criminal the man chor promised was ostracized the legislature refused to make provisions for alie arrest and punishment of criminals and the united states government was corn polled to bear the burden of the local government of the territory the now constitution was half utricle half a lie and those who presented it did not como as free men to frea men but with cringing and cowardice proposed to bind themselves for the future in a way which was required of no other state the territory could not come in under this constitution as anje and the provision against alie amendment of its constitution was therefore cither entirely nugatory or entirely wrong gentiles of did not believe that two years of statehood would elapse before the constitution would be changed to meet the views of the church richards asked leave to reply to mr dabnis but senator paddock not a member of the committee but present as an interested party stated I 1 that tha opponents of the petition would wait a further opportunity to present their case and the committee therefore adjourned for the day |